CUTLINE • Connecticut Public Television (cptv.org)
Connecticut: True Abolitionist? with Wilton & Westport Museums - YouTube Full show
Discover the truth about Fairfield County’s role in the Underground Railroad and early abolitionist movements. Panelists will speak about local beliefs around slavery and abolition from the 18th century through the Civil War to gain a deeper understanding of the region’s past and present.
Discover the truth about Fairfield County’s role in the Underground Railroad and early abolition movements. Panelists will talk about local beliefs around slavery and abolition from the 18th century through the Civil War and share materials from their museums’ collection relating to these topics to gain a deeper understanding of the region’s past and present. The panelists will include
Nicholas Foster, Wilton Historical Society Curator.
Ramin Ganeshram, Westport Museum Executive Director.
Joel Lang, Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist, and co-author of Complicity: How the North Promoted, Prolonged and Profited from Slavery and moderated by Nicole Carpenter, Westport Museum, Programs & Collections Director.
Numbers unreliable
R.G. CT had the most enslaved people among NE states by the Revolutionary War Census found 6500 counted. Adult slaves who can be taxed. Wilton, Westport and surrounding areas 17th and 18th century. NE family had 1-12. In the south plantation system had different living arrangements.
George educated African slave and was member of the Congregational Church
Slavery has profound impact on Atlantic Coastal economy in Colonial Phase. The Agri products sent to Sugar Plantations in West Indies. This fed the slaves in Caribbean. American Slaves came from WI
Westport had the river to connect to the Atlantic and go to WI. So, this became a profitable trade center, for export of agricultural products. Wilton was major producer of crops. Sugar was imported and molasses – This was a major need for the British Empire. The free labor from slaves made this trade profitable
Connecticut: True Abolitionist? | Virtual History Westport
Connecticut: True Abolitionist?
June 3, 2021 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Discover the truth about Fairfield County’s role in the Underground Railroad and early abolition movements. Panelists will talk about local beliefs around slavery and abolition from the 18th century through the Civil War and share materials from their museums’ collection relating to these topics to gain a deeper understanding of the region’s past and present.
The panelists include Nicholas Foster, Wilton Historical Society Curator; Ramin Ganeshram, Westport Museum Executive Director; Joel Lang, Pulitzer-prize winning journalist and co-author of Complicity: How the North Promoted, Prolonged and Profited from Slavery, and moderated by Nicole Carpenter, Westport Museum, Programs & Collections Director.
This special presentation of this previously recorded discussion, originally aired on CPTV, is done as a part of Westport READS 2021, Towards atMore Perfect Union: Confronting Racism.
224 Danbury Road
Wilton, CT 06897
203-762-7257